The day of the trial arrived without a word from Madame Thezard, which proved that Madame Dammauville had said nothing to her friend.  It was six months since the assassination occurred, and the affair had lost all interest for the Parisian public; in the provinces it was still spoken of, but at Paris it was a thing of the past.  There is no romance about a clerk who cuts the throat of his employer to rob him; there is no woman in the case, no mystery.

Saniel preferred that Phillis should remain at home with her mother, but in spite of his wishes and prayers she insisted on going to court.  She must be there so that Florentin would see her and take courage; he would defend himself better if she were there.

He defended himself badly, or at least indifferently, like a man who gives up because he knows beforehand that whatever he may say will be useless.

Until Saniel’s deposition the witnesses who testified were insignificant enough, and revealed nothing that was not already known; only Valerius, with his pretensions to a professional secret, which he developed slowly, amused the audience.  This deposition Saniel made brief and exact, contenting himself with repeating his report.  But then Nougarede rose, and begged the president to ask the witness to explain the struggle which should have taken place between the victim and his assassin; and the president, who had commenced by arguing, before the insistence of the defence, decided to ask this question.  Then Saniel slowly explained how the position of the body in the armchair and his condition were scientific proof that there was no struggle.

“This is an opinion,” said the president dryly; “the jury will appreciate it.”

“Perfectly,” replied Nougarede, “and I intend to make the jury feel the weight that it carries on the authority of him who formulated it.”

This phrase for effect was destined to invalidate in advance the contradictions that the prosecution would, he believed, raise against the testimony; but nothing of the kind occurred, and Saniel could go and take his place beside Phillis without being called to the bar to sustain his opinion against a physician whose scientific authority would be opposed to his.

In default of Madame Dammauville, Nougarede had summoned the concierge of Rue Sainte-Anne, as well as the maid and the cook, who had heard their mistress say that the man who drew Caffies curtains did not resemble Florentin’s portrait; but this was only gossip repeated by persons of no importance, who could not produce the effect of the ‘coup de theatre’ on which he had based his defence.